Blue Period No. 2 1983

Editor: We're looking at Colin Self's "Blue Period No. 2," currently at the Tate. I'm struck by the image within the blue wash, it seems almost ghostly. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Blue, often linked to melancholy, becomes a lens through which we view a faded memory. Consider the recurring motif of confinement – the frame within a frame. Does it evoke feelings of isolation, or perhaps the layered nature of memory itself? Editor: That makes sense. It's like looking at a photograph through water. Curator: Exactly! How might the photograph function as a cultural artifact, imbued with symbolic weight, filtered through the artist's emotional state? What does the blue add to the symbol? Editor: I guess it adds a layer of sadness, or reflection, to the scene. Thanks, that was really insightful.